Electrical current requirements

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed already, but I performed a search and could not find an answer. What kind of electrical current is required to launch Dragster? Will Cedar Point's overall electric "bill" be significantly higher? Just curious. Thanks for endulging my geekiness.

I think I read somewhere before that a dedicated line was brought in for Wicked Twister and they are going to use power from that line for Dragster. I'm not 100% sure. As far as how much current....I have no idea.

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Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here. - Jack Nicholson

I remember the WT line was a dedicated 30 some thousand volt line,34000 or something like that.

It all depends what they have avaibale in the park and the specs for the motors, control, lighting, etc. the lighting and controls are probally 277/480V the motor depending on the specifications could be fed directly from a 13.2kv line or whatever size the line is for the park loop that they have. It is hard to tell exactly what the total demand load is without knowing the kw ratings for each peice of equipment. It would be cool thought to see a one-line or riser diagram for the power for this beast. Hope this helps.

Thanks guys, for the interesting replies. Its nice to read some technical stuff on here again.

Yes, the dedicated line from the mainland that feeds Twister also feeds Dragster. According to Monty Jasper on a construction tour last winter, the line still has plenty of capacity if they need it.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM

Volts doesn't tell you much, power[watts] does. Every car uses an igntion system that induces over 20K voilts through it's spark plugs. Unlike industrial power of that magnitude of voltage, it won't harm you other than making you jump because it has little amperage. Industrial power with that voltage can blow off body parts.

10000 HP is equvalent to about 7.5 Megawatt/hours.

The launch mechnism only puts out that much power in 4 second periods, but the electricity powers the pumps that basicly trickle charges the accumulators. The pumps would have to be very powerful to charge the accumulators. I don't know how high the pressure that the accumulators charge up to, but I'm sure it's something like 4-10K PSI.

I wish I knew the technical side of this ride, I would love to see it. I'm afraid it simply isn't avalible to me though.

The interesting thing is that Dragster is expected to use more electric power than Wicked Twister. The difference is that Wicked Twister needs huge amounts of electric power for very short bursts of time. Dragster will require significantly less power to operate than Wicked Twister, (kilowatts instead of megawatts), but will have the bigger electric bill because Dragster's electrical needs are constant.

What is unfortunate is that the braking system on Dragster is not regenerative. They could come up with significant amounts of energy from stopping that thing, but rather than make good use of that energy they're just gonna throw it away as heat. Mostly because it's safer that way. It would be great to use a reverse-launch arrangement to slow the train while repressurizing the accumulators, but a mechanical problem could cause a catastrophic failure.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yeah yeah... thats what I was trying to imply with the trickle charge statement. :)

With the braking system wasting all the energy, It would be possible to regain a lot of the energy back. I don't think it would be worth it consitering the cost of development of such a system. Anyways, it's the midwest, we don't really have energy problems other than enviromental concerns. I understand that the enviroment is important, but I'm no tree hugger. There have been many cases of much worse done for less of a reason than powering TTD.

Also, I'm willing to bet a cheese-on-a-stick that It'll be possible to tell when WT's LIMs are firing by the sound of TTD's pumps. The loser can wish the winner a heart attack. :)

It doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to come up with a braking system to recharge batteries. At least it wouldn't be that hard on paper they would just had to do something similar to what the use on electric cars and various types of hybrids. Just on a much larger scale.

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Blue train always wins. . . . .Unless the red train cheats! Click here http://www.kingsofchaos.com/page.php?id=528304

Bob, there are a couple of problems. First of all, yes, it would be possible to dump the electricity from the brake fins back into the power grid, but unless you could time the power release from Dragster to coincide with a Wicked Twister launch, there would be nowhere for that power surge to go. You could feed it to batteries, but the losses in the conversion to DC and then back to AC wouldn't make it worthwhile. But the most important problem is that for magnetic brakes to work, you need a gigantic load on the braking system, typically a short-circuit. If anything should happen to open that short, the braking force would *disappear*. I have some experience with this: I have a bottom-bracket generator on my bicycle. I was pedaling up a hill, struggling against not only gravity, but also against the generator which was powering my headlamp. Suddenly (as is how these things happen) the headlamp burned out, changing the electrical circuit from a load to an open circuit, and it got noticeably easier to pedal!

So it would be neither practical nor safe to recover energy from electrical braking. A better way, more useful for this ride, anyway, might be to put a little cart on the brake run to catch the front of the train and unwind a cable spool; the unspooling cable could turn a hydraulic pump to force fluid back into the accumulators. That would work, and it would allow some percentage of the launch energy to be recovered in braking. The really neat thing about it is that it could cut the recharge time for the launch system. The problem with it is that for it to work the hydraulic brake would have to replace the magnetic or friction brakes...but a broken cable, a blown hose, a leaking fitting, a jammed pump piston...any number of minor failures could lead to a catastrophic failure of the braking system. Which would be a Bad Thing™.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(Imagine hitting the station turnaround curve at 90 MPH...)

You could used the current induced into the brake fins, but I believe that current is exxhanged back into mangnetic flux. If you put a resistance against that current flow, then you sill lose some of the flux lines. When the flux lines react with the permanant magnet flux, then that opposition slows the train. Since the current has little resistance, it mainly gets turned to heat. that is quickly disipated consitering the large surface area of the fins combined.

In reality, it would be difficult to convert the energy from the trains momentum to charge the launch system. Even then the losses from converting energy would be significant. Losses meaning converting energy into unwanted energy forms. In the end, I don't think such a device would justefiy the expense of implimenting it.

If it was practical to used all the energy produced, I would rather have a longer ride anyways.

Once again, Dave Said basicly the same thing I did, but did a better job with it. LOL